Ninth Age WHFB: Sadly, A Slowly Sinking Ship

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Blog. Summary:

How can a game be an ambitious rewrite of WHFB 8th ed. with a quite active tournament scene, and still be a ruleset on life support? Because of that. The project team has made several strategic errors - some irrepairable - that have turned the project - imho - in a Grailseeking quest. And although I admire the hard work, the great layout, the blood sweat and tears of T9A, I predict that 'The Ninth Age' will in the end be nothing more than a fringe movement in mass battle fantasy wargaming.

Not a dominant ruleset that attracts new generations.

The decline, actually, is quite sad. Non-profit volunteer games have my sympathy. I write this blog not because I hate 9th Age or fantasy battling, but because I wonder about a gamer's community that still dream that they are the world's next Games Workshop.(...)

So, will it die?
(more here: http://napoleoninelba.blogspot.com/2018/07/9th-age-warhammer-fantasy-sadly-slowly.html

[horridperson]

I appreciate people being passionate enough to work at a rule set that has been neglected.  Blood Bowl was kept alive for years due to the efforts of the LRB group.  I've recently come across a very nice Battle Companies (LotR) project that looks professional and again speaks of a love for the material.

9th age seems to have attracted on account of negativity.  Locally the people who have adopted it seem to have done so because of their bad feelings about AoS.  It's not a foundation for building something.  Bitter grognards are not good ambassadors.  I can't speak for the people at the core of the 9th age development, but I can see why it will remain on the fringe and not enjoy mass appeal.  Merits notwithstanding the time and the "implosion" of AoS that didn't happen has diminished the bitter wave that groundswelled 9th Age.

The 1st error you cited in your article is huge.  The elitism, ingratitude, and general sourness of 9th Age proponents is stifling.  Somewhere along along the line they forgot that games are supposed to be fun.

[jetengine]

A product created purely through salt will not last.

[gibby64]

I don't play warhammer, so I can't comment on the new rules (though I did just buy the 3rd and 6th edition books for fun)... But I do know that there used to be passion/obsession/excitement among the players and that seems to have left. Most are mad at the game for differing reasons... A lot are trying out different rule sets that they can use their current (and expensive to collect) warhammer minis with. Kings of War seems to be a gateway drug out of warhammer for a lot of them.... that leads to other rule sets that don't have supportive minis allowing for current collections to be rearranged into warbands... That's what i've seen lately with the local players.... 40k seems to be going strong still.

[andyskinner]

I've been involved with a couple of rules systems that started off with excitement, but kind of lose steam.  I currently like the One Page Rules systems, and development of a second edition is in progress.  But there is a lot less going on there at the moment.  I think part of the problem for that one is that GW's rules became more streamlined, and reduced the need.  I still prefer the alternating activation and fewer special rules of OPR (special rules are my big hang-up), but the forums are definitely quiet.

I'm sure it is easier for a company to keep up interest when they know they need to do it in order to stay in business.

Some of the Epic rulesets have thrived with a fan-base.

andy

[Duncan McDane]

Problem seems to me that there are no new miniature releases to look for. You've got the rules, you've got your army book and that's it. Sometimes there might be a rule overhaul but to see some new Dwarf units and/or characters appear every couple of years, nope. No more future exitements, nothing to look for anymore. I guess 9th age simply wass some kind of outlet for disappointed diehard WFB fans and eventually will be doomed just because of that.

[gibby64]

I think because there are so many fantastic mini makers now that it will be hard for GW to create a new line of minis that can compete or feel unique... how could GW do anything for dwarves when Scibor Miniatures have devoted themselves to some of the most unique and interested models i've ever seen... same goes to other makers and their sculptors passion.

[powerfrog99]

I'm playing WHFB since the mid 80ties and still do   
The End Times really made me sad, so that when T9A showed I was pretty much tempted and tried the rules.
However a lot of the great stuff like guessing ranges, templates of different shapes and sizes etc. which I like so much have been altered or removed in a way I do not ike. Parallel I found the pace of rule updates a bit too brisk for me.
Even most of my more stubborn pals quitted playing T9A recently...

I really appreciate and admire the work these group of enthusiasts is doing, but for me maybe a little bit less change of the original rules would have been more ?!?

[DS615]

I don't play GW games, but I do see pretty much this exact same post every time they change the rules.
Just for perspective.

[Red Kop]

For my group, 9th Age is the go to rule set for large scale fantasy games. We're not hardcore tournament gamers. We are a bunch of guys who get together a few times a year for a weekend of mucking around, having a laugh and playing games and for us 9th Age scratches an itch.

It isn't a rule set that we picked up as a stand against GW or AoS or anything - as Warhammer players it was just something that seemed to be a natural evolution from 8th edition Warhammer in that covered all of our units and armies and had a sense of familiarity to it.

I'll be honest and say that I don't 'love' 9th Age - especially the current 'Beta' rules that are currently available but many of the guys in my group do love the rules, love playing it and play it constantly.

I'd like it to keep going. Certainly we'll keep playing it for the foreseeable future. But I guess time will tell whether it survives or not.